State shot-put champion Brode picks Harvard

By Tom Williams

Strong competition and risk of injury were factors in his decision.

CANFIELD — Among the things Canfield High senior Dustin Brode gave up to excel at shot putting were running sprints and high school football.

Those sacrifices plus hard work in the classroom have paid off as Brode on Tuesday signed a letter of intent to attend Harvard University on a track and field scholarship.

Brode is Canfield’s first student athlete to accept a sports scholarship at the prestigious Boston university.

“That was tough,” said Brode of his decision last summer to not go out for football after playing offensive line and linebacker his junior year. “I thought about it all year, from the end of my junior football season all the way up to the day summer practice started.”

Ohio’s defending Division I shot putter, Brode said strong competition and the risk of injury were factors.

“In Ohio, there are four of us who are extremely good, which is kind of odd to have that many in one year,” Brode said. “Ohio is the best state for throwers recruited this year.

“None of those kids played football, so I couldn’t give them a leg up,” Brode said.

The son of Gary and Delane Brode, he has a 3.8 grade-point average and is ranked 26th in a class of 276 students.

Among the schools who have been pursuing Brode are Stanford, Yale and Clemson, whose coaching staff includes Canfield graduate Shawn Cobey.

As for indoor track and field, Brode is currently ranked No. 1 in Ohio for shot put and No. 3 for weight throwing. In the nation, he’s second for shot put and fifth for weight throw.

As much as Brode would like to continue his track and field career after four years of college, he’s admits the odds of that are long.

That’s why a degree from Harvard means so much.

“As far as rankings for academics and getting a job, [Harvard] is the best choice,” Brode said. “There’s always life after throwing. The chances of being a professional athlete are slim.

“Track is not really a spectator sport so [professionals] don’t make Shaquille O’Neal money,” Brode said. “[Becoming] a Harvard graduate seems like the best choice because I did all this to get into a good school.”

Brode plans to major in biochemistry for business.

Brode’s first taste of throwing came in seventh grade when he and his friend, Richard Luklan, were looking for a spring sport.

“We ended up doing fairly well, which was kind of unlikely because there’s a difference in a seventh grader and eight grader muscle-wise ” Brode said. “I end up in the finals at all these big meets as a seventh grader.”

In eighth grade, Brode told his coaches he wanted to run sprints.

“I was one of the top five fastest kids on the team [but] they said no, they wanted me into the throws,” Brode said. “I am so glad that they forced me into throwing because that was the year I broke the middle-school record and decided this is something I ought [to pursue].”

Among those he thanked were Canfield varsity track coach Mark Carden and throwing coach Nick Wagner.

Wagner said Brode’s best quality is his dedication.

“He’s the first one out there to practice and the last one to leave,” he said. “He has the dedication and the heart, and to have the grades on top of that is very rare.

“The achievements that he’s earned, Division I shot put champion and going to Harvard, there’s no words to describe it.”

williams@vindy.com